Select Local Merchants

A well-known steakhouse in Cave Creek, Harold's is the perfect location for delicious steak and tasty seafood. It's a favorite spot for visitors seeking a yummy meal.
If you're trying to plan ahead, most folks will agree that later in the week (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) is the best time to visit. Also, in addition to the awesome outdoor seating, the restaurant is known for its country music. It should be noted that casual attire is encouraged. Also, if you're in the mood for tunes, it's a great option for live music.
For those keeping an eye on their diet, the robust menu does feature items that are gluten-free, low-fat, and vegetarian. Plus, it's been tabbed as a nice option for families with children and large groups, in addition to local cuisine and dancing. WiFi's available if you're trying to get some work done, and in addition to its quick service (take-out is available), the restaurant also offers delivery, and can even cater an event for you. Or, if you're looking for a good spot to hit up after work, it's got a popular happy hour and pretty decent selection at its bar.
A lunch and dinner staple in the community for 80+ years, you won't walk away from Harold's disappointed. Don't worry about trying to find a spot on the street, as visitors to the restaurant do have access to a private parking lot nearby. Would you rather pedal your way there? Bicycle parking is also provided.

A well-known Japanese restaurant in Phoenix, Ebisu is the perfect location for fantastic sushi. It's a local favorite for guests seeking incredible food.
No specific attire is required, so feel free to dress casually and comfortably.
For those who are interested, the robust menu does feature items that are gluten-free, low-fat, and vegetarian. Plus, it's been tabbed as a nice option for both families with children and large groups. If you're in a hurry, you can call ahead and take advantage of the convenient take-out menu. Or, if you just want to stop by for a beverage, the restaurant has a good selection at its bar.
A reputable favorite for dinner, rolling over to Ebisu is definitely worthwhile. Don't worry about trying to find a spot on the street, as visitors to the restaurant do have access to a private parking lot nearby. Prefer to pedal there? Bicycle parking is also provided.

An elegant chandelier sparkles above Amaro Italiano Ristorante open kitchen, but it’s rarely the first thing that guests notice. They are too engrossed by Pizza Chef's delicate dance as he flings discs of pizza dough high into the air, careful not to get them caught in the chandelier’s net of crystal beads. The culinary team pull their own mozzarella and top their Neapolitan pizzas with such creative ingredients as shoestring onions, oven-roasted artichoke hearts, and shaved ham. Pizza is hardly their only specialty, however. Their dishes run the gamut from house-made pastas to a bone-in pork chop with a Dijon and mustard glaze. 70 wines complement the complex Italian flavors, as do the artworks on the dining room’s walls and live musicians who have strung their guitars with resonant spaghetti al dente.

Why just go anywhere when you can head to Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market in Cave Creek for a fantastic grocery store with delectable food and healthy produce?
For those who can't cook, rest assured that the frozen foods available here will sate your hunger.
While you're stopping in today, you'll love browsing their selection of terrific meats.
Both sugary and high-fiber cereals are delicious and this store carries them all.
For baked goods that are as delicious as they are fluffy, don't forget to pick up some fresh ingredients to make sure your creation hits it out-of-the-park.
When you're trying to upgrade your cooking, adding flavor is essential. Create supple and tarter flavors by exploring the wonders vinegar and oil can add to your cuisine by shopping for them here.
Whether you prefer sweet or savory dishes, you can find all of the spices and seasonings you need to make your favorite dishes here.
The drinks available here are a great way to restore your body's natural balance, so start sipping.
Whether you cook it or eat it raw, the produce from Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market will be tasty no matter what.
Stay refreshed no matter where you are! Water is available at Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market.
If you love to taste different tea and coffee blends, check out the selection of items available at Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market.
If milk is your go-to beverage, you'll love the dairy products available here (great for strengthening your bones and teeth).
Pick up all of your favorite snacks and enjoy a relaxing night in while you veg out.
Switch up your weekly pasta routine with a new and exciting pasta recipe. Grab some noodles from Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market and get cooking.
Catch all your omega-3 fatty acids! Fish are delicious and nutritious, so start planning your next seafood platter.
Pop one of these TV dinners into the microwave, and you'll be ready to relax in front of the TV.
Grab a loaf of bread from Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market and make your sandwich just the way you like it.
When you're looking for dinnertime shortcuts, Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market provides an eclectic assortment of canned foods to make the most of your time while keeping you nourished.
If you're commuting by car, you will be happy to know that Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market is located near a number of parking options.
Get your grocery shopping done in a pinch. Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market has everything you need to make a great meal in Cave Creek.

Cave Creek's Safeway offers an assortment of drugstore goodies, including toiletries, medicine, beauty products and skincare products.
The drinks available here are a great way to restore your body's natural balance, so start sipping.
Need a sandwich for lunch or toast to compliment your hearty breakfast? Grab a loaf of bread today.
This fresh produce here is so tasty it will change the way we think about healthy eating.
Cereal might be the best part of waking up. Pick up your favorite box today.
Don't wait for things like rice to cook when you don't have to. The great selection of frozen food here helps you speed up the cooking time for any number of different foods.
When you need some essential proteins, you'll definitely be covered with the great meat selection here.
When you need a quick side dish to go with your main course, pick up some canned good options from here.
Feeling hungry? Your favorite healthy and light snacks are waiting for you at Safeway.
For baked goods that are as delicious as they are fluffy, don't forget to pick up some fresh ingredients to make sure your creation hits it out-of-the-park.
Stay refreshed no matter where you are! Water is available at Safeway.
Go under the sea with a few fresh catches, and enjoy a meal rich in protein and flavor.
Feeling hungry? Make your breakfast, lunch, or dinner even better with some great seasonings and spices from here.
This place lets you recreate the wonders of fair fare by offering terrific vinegar and oil options to help you make everyone's favorite, vinegar and french fries!
When all you want to do is relax after a long day, cooking is the last thing on your mind. Eat a delicious meal in a matter of minutes with an easy-to-make TV dinner!
We all could use a little dairy in our diet, so why not add some to your day and pick it up at Safeway? You'll feel great knowing you're getting just the right nutrition.
Get your noodle on! Safeway has some of the best and affordable noodle and pasta options in the area.
There's no better way to start your busy day than making a flavorful coffee or tea from Safeway.
Don't spend time searching for parking — visitors are welcome to use the adjoining lot.
Remember that Safeway is a great place to pick up toiletries, cleaning supplies, and a number of odds and ends when you don't have time to make a full supermarket sweep.

Shaw Brokerage Co. in Cave Creek has high-quality, fresh food at an affordable price, making it a popular grocery store for locals and visitors.
When you body needs hydration most, grab some drinks off the shelf.
Hungry for a tasty meal but don't have the time to spend in the kitchen? Frozen food is an easy solution.
Shaw Brokerage Co. boasts the highest quality canned foods in the area with their terrific selection. You'll never want to purchase any other kind of food again.
H20: The essential element for every human being. Stay hydrated everywhere you go with a bottle from Shaw Brokerage Co.
If you're just getting into cooking, pick up some oil and vinegar from here and learn the basics of cooking with these necessities.
This fixing adds that little something extra to any baked good, so include it in all of your favorite recipes.
Chicken, beef, sausage, and more are all available from this fine establishment for your cuisine.
A healthy and light snack from Shaw Brokerage Co. is a great way to keep your energy up throughout the day.
Cereal in the morning, cereal in the evening, or cereal at suppertime. With the selection here, you'll want to eat cereal anytime.
We all could use a little dairy in our diet, so why not add some to your day and pick it up at Shaw Brokerage Co.? You'll feel great knowing you're getting just the right nutrition.
Need a sandwich for lunch or toast to compliment your hearty breakfast? Grab a loaf of bread today.
When your food needs a little more flavor, pick up some seasonings or spices from here and enjoy a tasty meal.
Looking for comfort food? What's better than spaghetti or a savory pasta dish? Grab some of this pasta today and your next meal will be on-point!
Whether you cook it or eat it raw, the produce from Shaw Brokerage Co. will be tasty no matter what.
If cooking isn't your strong point, dig into a TV dinner! Microwave cooking has never tasted so good.
If you're seeking high-quality tea and coffee with endless flavor nodes, check out the options at Shaw Brokerage Co.
Take a dive and swim away with some succulent fish. It's a great source of protein for your next meal!
Score a close parking spot at Shaw Brokerage Co.
So if you're looking for only the best ingredients to use in your cooking, look no further than Shaw Brokerage Co. in Cave Creek.

Groupon Guide

“I'm not the kind of guy who's going to say ... ‘I only buy local ingredients,’” said Ryan McCaskey, the chef and founder of Chicago’s Michelin-starred Acadia. Instead, the James Beard Award–nominated chef sources many of his ingredients from Maine—and even sources his salmon from New Zealand.In so doing, he’s bucking the burgeoning farm-to-table trend. Chefs like Rick Bayless, Paul Kahan, and Paul Virant—three local luminaries who McCaskey thinks “do it right”—brought the locavore movement to Chicago’s attention. The simultaneous uptick in Chicago farms, especially on the South Side, have made local sourcing increasingly doable.McCaskey, though, hasn’t been converted. He views the local food movement as “a little bit of a double-edged sword.” We chatted about what he views as farm-to-table food movements’ pros and cons.Pro: Farm-to-table reminds him of his time in Maine.He called the state his “second home”—before opening Acadia, he honed his culinary skills at Goose Cove Lodge in Deer Isle—and the lifestyle there centered on local food. That meant daily markets, and “the produce and the food that you get in the local store comes from a farm down the street. [Often] people just come and knock on your door with fresh eggs, fresh chicken, some cheese they made.”McCaskey added, “We didn’t really think about it like, this is a trend. That’s how you live.” (He lived this lifestyle in '90s Maine but said it still endures to this day.)Pro: Local food can have a mysterious X-factor.McCaskey spent the year before his restaurant opened in “very remote parts of Africa.” Even eating three square meals a day, he ended up losing 15 pounds on his travels. “I ate like normal,” he said, still a little bewildered as to how it happened. He has a theory, though: “There’s nothing in their food. There’s no hormones, no weird sprays.” While he knows those non-organic touches are meant to protect consumers, he also hypothesizes that they make American food heavier than African meals.Pro: It’s “the way food should be.” McCaskey elaborated that to him, that means “less manipulated, in it's purest form, you know."Con: It's trendy.And McCaskey is skeptical of trends.“I'm not a big guy on trends and fads, really. Except for our ramen, I think everything else we do I just do it because I want to do it.”Con: Buzzwords can be a marketing ploy.McCaskey thinks that some chefs use words like “organic,” “local,” and “sustainable” to be viewed part of the Bayless cohort mentioned in the intro. “But they just can’t be, in my opinion,” McCaskey added. To be part of that cohort takes talent as well as sourcing savvy. Con: Quality matters more than location.“I just try to find the best,” McCaskey said. He elaborated that while mushrooms might grow in his backyard, he wouldn’t use them over more flavorful ones flown in from Florida.Con: Thoughtful sourcing should be assumed.“I know exactly where pretty much everything comes from on our menu,” McCaskey said. (He even knows the exact hill his blueberries grown on!) “But the thing is, I don't need to use it as a marketing tool because ... people just assume it's going to be really great product. People coming to eat at our restaurant, nobody I think would say, ‘Oh, they're using lesser grade eggs’ or something.”Top photo courtesy of Acadia RestaurantRead more from award-winning chefs:Sean Brock's three key tenets to Southern cookingJoanne Chang's five essential baking tools

Every time chef Emeril Lagasse says “Bam!”, he wins a new culinary award. Or at least, that’s how it can seem. The star chef has won a James Beard Award, an Ivy Award, and been featured in a Smithsonian exhibit. It’s no wonder he runs 10+ restaurants, is always on TV, and typically just goes by “Emeril”—a trick previously reserved for Madonna.During our chat with him, in celebration of Groupon's Summer Tastes, we discovered one of Emeril’s rare non-culinary secrets: he’s a great storyteller. Check out a selection of his stories and snacking secrets below.GROUPON: You first started learning to cook from your mom, Hilda. What did she teach you that you still use today?EMERIL: Calde verde soup. It’s a Portuguese kale soup that is still an essential in my house. My kids ask me all the time to make it and it always brings back a lot of memories. Soups in general are incredibly comforting to me and remind me of my mom and early days cooking together.G: Who is a celebrity, in the food world or outside of it, who’s made you starstruck?E: Julia Child had me starstruck the first time we met. She is a culinary icon who was one of my first mentors. I was working at the Parker House when I first met her. She came in unannounced and wanted me to cook for her. I could definitely feel the pressure but was honored to be able to cook for her.G: What’s a not-super-healthy indulgence you’ll never give up?E: Potato chips, in particular plain Zapp’s potato chips. And they are the best when they are frozen.G: Through your foundation, you do a lot of work with disadvantaged kids. What’s the most surprising thing they’ve taught you about “kids these days”?E: Kids are very resilient and inherently have a positive attitude. I find it so rewarding to help provide tools and resources and empower kids to follow their passions. It’s about helping kids create lasting habits to take with them in whatever endeavors they explore. Kids these days have so many options and opportunities but we have to help them achieve a strong foundation and confidence in order for them to realize these potentials.G: When you’re in New Orleans and not at your own restaurants, what are some of your favorites to dine at?E: New Orleans has so many new restaurants and dining options. Some of my staples that I always go back to are The Galley Seafood (they have a killer seafood boil), Pho Tau Bay (they are currently in the process of relocating, but they serve the best Vietnamese I’ve ever had), and Domilise’s Poboy’s (best poboys in the city).G: What’s an easy way to “kick up” a meal?E: Visit your local wine store and have your wine merchant suggest pairings that will go well with the dishes you’ve selected. This will elevate the meal to more of an event. (Another good trick is to finish savory dishes with a light sprinkling of flaky sea salt or fresh herbs.)G: What is a kitchen tool that most home cooks don’t have, but should?E: A Japanese mandoline. These are inexpensive, easy to store, don’t take up too much space, and allow you to make paper thin slices and/or perfectly uniform julienne of vegetables and fruits.

When I moved from Los Angeles to Chicago, I was surprised to find that what I missed most about my hometown was not the beaches, the mountains, or the uniformly great weather. It was the donuts. Five years and 5,000 half-assed old-fashioneds later, I’ve had time to reflect on why no other American city even comes close to topping LA’s donut game. From Randy’s in Inglewood to Stan’s in Westwood—and all the mom-and-pop shops in between—here are nine reasons why the best donuts in Los Angeles are also the best donuts period.1. A giant donut is literally the first thing you see when you’re flying into the airport.There’s no getting around the fact that LAX is a miserable place. But before visitors to this fair city are greeted with an hour of runway taxiing and searching for lost baggage, they get to feast their eyes on the massive donut that resides permanently atop Randy’s Donuts (805 W. Manchester Blvd.). Brothers Ron and Larry Weintraub co-own this landmark shop, which has appeared in such cinematic masterpieces as Earth Girls are Easy and Volcano. The drive-thru is open 24 hours—just in case you caught the redeye—and the classic jelly is better than any donut in your city.2. It’s not overrun by mediocre chains.Chain donut shops are fine, especially if you’re craving a sad, wilting maple bar and a scalding hot cup of America’s Most Overrated Coffee. But, hey, you know what’s even better? Pretty much every donut shop in Los Angeles. Bostonians may pride themselves on supporting the Big National Chain, but LA—like much of California—has staunchly resisted its intrusion for years. Drive through the city, and you’ll find a mom-and-pop donut shop on nearly every corner. Sure, they may not all be great, but you won’t know that until you try them. Think of it as playing the lottery with the odds stacked in your favor.3. You can get Chinese food and donuts under one roof.If you’ve lived in LA for any reasonable amount of time, you’ve likely stumbled across a shop that sells Chinese food alongside donuts. These small, hole-in-the-wall establishments may owe to the influx of Cambodian immigrants in the 1970s, though their donuts tend to be of the standard American variety. They’re also incredibly inexpensive, so it makes good economic sense to substitute a glazed cruller for a side of white rice. Check out Mom’s Donuts & Chinese Food (601 N. Silver Lake Blvd.) in Silver Lake and discover why LA really is the city where dreams come true.4. “Gourmet” donuts are a stupid fad, but LA even has those.Putting bacon on your donut is a sign of insecurity, and charging $4 for the resulting abomination should be a crime worthy of arrest. It’s not that experimentation is bad, per se, but sometimes a good thing just doesn’t need to be gussied up. The people of LA seem to know this intuitively, which is why you can still find a no-fuss, 50-cent donut everywhere you look. If you have special dietary restrictions, you can always hit up a vegan spot like Breakaway Bakery (5264 W. Pico Blvd.), but here’s a rule to live by: the best donuts belong in your belly, not on Instagram. 5. Shhh. The best donut shop in Chicago is an LA donut shop in disguise.If you live in Chicago, maybe you’ve visited a Stan’s Donuts recently. And while you were there, maybe you thought to yourself, “This is a good donut place.” You were right! But at its jelly-filled core, Stan’s in Chicago is really just a dressed-up version of the original Stan’s (10948 Weyburn Ave.), an unassuming stand in Westwood that’s been churning out the hits since 1965. 6. When New York bakers tried to get all meta-donut, LA beat 'em at their own game.By now you’ve surely heard of the cronut, the half-croissant, half-donut hybrid invented by Chef Dominique Ansel in his New York bakery. Is the cronut necessary? Of course not. But New Yorkers have this annoying habit of thinking they’re the best at everything, so LA was forced to take the cronut and make it even better. Hence the brûléed crullant from Semi Sweet Bakery (105 E. 6th St.) , a cruller-croissant that comes topped with two layers of brûléed sugar. In the low-budget class, the clear winner is the $2 faux-nut from California Donuts (3540 W. 3rd St.). Hey, New York, can you make a $2 cronut?7. Potato flour donuts are common in LA and nearly impossible to find elsewhere.Donuts made with potato flour were once not all that uncommon. Sold under the franchise name of Spudnuts, these donuts could be found everywhere from Alaska to the American South, but the parent company shut down in the late 1970s and independent stores gradually followed suit. Except in LA, that is, where Spudnuts is very much alive and ready to answer the burning question of “What does a potato donut taste like?” (Not like french fries, strangely enough).8. Most LA donut shops are open late, and plenty of them never close.Donuts are fatty, sugary, and inexpensive, which means they’re the perfect food to eat when your inhibitions leave you at 4 a.m. Thankfully, LA has no shortage of donut shops open 24 hours, including the aforementioned Randy’s and California Donuts.9. A donut bought in LA is a victory for the American Dream.There are plenty of reasons to crown LA the donut capital of the world—so many, in fact, that it’s almost silly to even be having this conversation. But the most compelling reasons lie in what kind of country we want America to be. Do we want to live in a country where a hardworking, ever-smiling couple like Ralph and Celia Primo (Primo’s Donuts, 2918 Sawtelle Blvd.) can battle the big chains and emerge victorious? Do we want to live in a country where you can exchange a single dollar bill for the best damn donut of your life? If your answer is “Yes!”, then come to LA. And look out for Randy’s on your way in.Photo illustrations by Mark Mills, GrouponDig in to these other delicious reads:Celebrate Pi Day with Six of America's Best Pies
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